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Alan Buis (818) 354-0474
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Erica Hupp/Dolores Beasley (202) 358-1237/1753
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Carmeyia Gillis (301) 763-8000, ext. 7163
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Camp Springs, Md.
News Releasee: 2005-137 August 24, 2005
NASA/NOAA Announce Major Weather Forecasting Advancement
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today outlined
research that has helped to improve the accuracy of medium-range weather
forecasts in the Northern Hemisphere.
NASA and NOAA scientists at the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation
in Camp Springs, Md., came up with procedures to improve forecasting accuracy.
The scientists worked with experimental data from the Atmospheric Infrared
Sounder instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite.
They found incorporating the instrument's data into numerical weather prediction
models improves the accuracy range of experimental six-day Northern Hemisphere
weather forecasts by up to six hours, a four-percent increase. The Atmospheric
Infrared Sounder is a high-spectral resolution infrared instrument that takes
3-D pictures of atmospheric temperatures, water vapor and trace gases.
The instrument data have been officially incorporated into the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service operational weather forecasts.
"NASA is assisting the world's weather prediction agencies by providing very
detailed, accurate observations of key atmospheric variables that interact to
shape our weather and climate," said Dr. Mary Cleave, associate administrator for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The forecast improvement accomplishment alone
makes the AIRS project well worth the American taxpayers' investment."
"This AIRS instrument has provided the most significant increase in forecast
improvement in this time range of any other single instrument,” said retired Navy
Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator.
"Climate and weather forecasts are dependent upon our understanding current global
ocean and atmosphere conditions,” added Lautenbacher. “If we want to be able to predict
what the weather will be like in the future, we must adequately define the global conditions
today. Satellite data, like AIRS provides, is a vital link for NOAA to take the pulse
of the planet continuously."
"A four-percent increase in forecast accuracy at five or six days normally takes several
years to achieve," said Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation Director Dr. John
LeMarshall. "This is a major advancement, and it is only the start of what we may see as
much more data from this instrument are incorporated into operational forecast models at
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Environmental Modeling Center."
The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts began incorporating data from the
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder into their operational forecasts in October 2003. The center
reported an improvement in forecast accuracy of eight hours in Southern Hemisphere
five-day forecasts.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument is the result of more than 30 years of atmospheric
research and is led by Dr. Moustafa Chahine of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
It is the first in a series of advanced infrared sounders that will provide accurate, detailed
atmospheric temperature and moisture observations for weather and climate applications.
The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation is operated by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the U.S. Air Force and Navy. The goals of the center are
to accelerate the use of observations from Earth-orbiting satellites to improve weather and
climate forecasts, and to increase the accuracy of climate data sets.
For information about the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on the Internet, visit:
http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/.
For information about NASA and agency programs on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/home/index.html.
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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